1 1 a 1ka meme 6m Lane-war -J 3-5 6 91 sge hh lf nip US DOE ARCHIVES W5 is Presented at Cc --ission A meeting 9 111 55 6 MA 9 13 55 Hun-'- - -- A if LE fl - aid-uh I l Geneva seating developer as a cf axe - arfe was ries 0 notes oetween US and 353 following the U S suggestion of 3 f Inte rati nal pool of fissi Lu - sole mate ial and later plans for an i 2 2 ions Cd USSR oosition was that existence of such pool and 3'3 dlespread development of reactors would increase fissmnable material 8 a 1 I usupply and thus increase hazards to peaceU S replied that technical means could be densed to assx1re that no undetected diversions took place and suggested a meeting to diSCuss these HSSR agreed in early Summer and Suggested Geneva following the Peaceful Uses conference Later the U K France Canada and Czechoslovakia were included _ - L U 2 1 1 5 delegation headed by Rabi State Department representatives were Gerard Smith Erlilliam Hall Francis Stevens Howard Robinson Others ABC were John Hall H Zinn Kenneth Davis 'R v season 8 0 English I Other delegations headed by Cockroft and Schonland U K Lewis Canada VIV- Perrin France Skobeltzin USSR Simane Czechoslovakia DWARTMENTOF REVIEW g 3 1 There were five meetings of about 2 heurs each Rabi chairman 3 first day Presented as a basis for the discussions a series of a these had been discussed in private beforehand with the U K 95 France and Canada 55 25 Major assumptions and technical suggestions 1 Agency will exist which will make fissionable materials Will do so under conditions of least interference and with available W ms zxf -2- facilities designed for best inspection Co mtries will completely divulge all activities coming 11nder terms of agreement with Abency Abency will inspect and control to prevent llndetected diversion 2 3asis of control to be ohysical sec'lrit'f r - as' res and IateriRl acco mtahili t'T proced' res related to stora e of n a terials reac ' r o erations fnel abricat ior che i o l operaticns transport Control and inspection meaSllres ldll vary with type of installation e g less severe in case of research reactor 4 5 r gest ser sitive r ater-ial 'lse 0 r radioactive tracer as an aid in follo 'ing 1 -232' s'Jbbested f or enriched 11-235 and U-233 and Co-60 f o r u - sOlontaneot's ne trons fro r Pn-240 also sl1 ested as usef l fer Pu - research and material testing reactors Suggests lind t of 1ith pOI rer limitation of 30 l w 5% enrichment for power reactors Hi th exception of certain package pouer reactors for remote or special application where enrich T ent of 20% GENERAL 1 a llo red with po' er limitation of 30 mp SSIOlI5 mi AN XJMl' ENTS Meeting as intended was preliminary 'a nd exploratory in nature - as s ch believe it served a useful purpose No general agreement was anticipated or sOllght 2 Attitude of Rllssians while reasonably friendly was one_ of ass ming they ere there to examine U S proposals with considerable aJ lount- of nit-pickine criticism Altho'lgh i t was pointed Ollt to them DOE ARCHIVEI' -3- the r eeting vIas for a joint discnssion they had nothing substantive to offer and their cOT 1nents vlere largely in the form of qnestions I believe t ey do not like the idea of an Agency but feel they have to becoffie involved in case it is established nelieve their plans involve fl1rnishing rna terial for reactors' to their satellites but retainin' c0ntrol O'Jer r8'9J'ocessing and refabrication of fuel 3 at of' clear de fiC1itjon ot 'l 1cti - - s 0 'J t - c - USSR t llS In 2 11 discussions U S delegation carer' l not to prejudge any or all fund ions of Agency nor to specify areas of operation 4 U K Fra '1ce Canada put orl'lard by U S contribute They also hp'j i 1 general-agreement 1-nth plans l - ' ' ' sllsstantive material to Lewis somewhat unhappy aoout lir itations on enrichment pro osed - on technical basis Rabi sllbmi tted final report as chc '1irman memoran m Also Rabi and Davis recornw ending A Assessment be made of lfnat arno mts constitute dangerous diversion B Tracer methods be evaluated in laboratory c DeSign stndies be carried ont by engineering firm on reactor and chemical plant with view to integrating ease of control into concept lJiX ffJ i --I _ dRCHIYES 1L2nd AEC Meeting 9-1h-55 7537'- 3 Report on Geneva Technical Discussions pp 2 13 Mr E nglish reported on the recent fnternational technical 3 discussions at Geneva on means of pi otecting and ac counting for fissionable material which might be allocated to an international atomic energy agency In summarizing his impressions he said he believed that although these were preliminary discussions only and no general conclusions had been sought or obtained the conference had been useful Discussion had been complicated however by the fact that plans for the agency and its functions are indefinite He added that the Russians had not appeared to be very much interested in the cstablisnment of the agency but had implied the sthuv would wi h to Join it if it is established Mr English said that Dr Rabi had reported to the State Department on the meeting and that both Dr Rabi and Mr Davie were interested in establishing what amounts of fissionable material Would if diverted cons Hi ute a threat to the peace They were interested also in obtaining answers to several technical questions and in particular wished to know what would be inVolved in thc construction of nuclear power plants designed to facilitate inspection See ABC 751 3u Mr Davis said that he believed that a paper study of the latter question would be sufficient With regard to losses in she mical processing of reactor fuel a matter closely related to the problem of diversion of fissionable material Mr English said that the U K experience has been that -p of the material is lost The U K had been informed that this figure is consistent with U 3 experienceSBAIHJHV 300 SN                     National Security Archive    Suite 701  Gelman Library  The George Washington University    2130 H Street  NW  Washington  D C  20037    Phone  202 994‐7000  Fax  202 994‐7005  nsarchiv@gwu edu